1873.] 115 



and hangs there •with its head directed upwards towards the under part of the body 

 for three days (sometimes a few hours more, sometimes a few hours less), when it 

 changes to a smooth, stout, whitish-green chrysalis. 



It remains from twenty-five to twenty-seven days in pupa. The day previous 

 to emergence, the wing-cases appear suffused with a rich purple, the double border 

 of gamboge spots at the outer margin of the fore-wings being very distinct. If the 

 day bo warm, the perfect insect generally emerges during the early part of the next 

 day ; if, however, the weather be dull or cold, it often does not emerge till late in 

 the afternoon or in the evening. 



The larvae were kept on Arhutus sprigs, placed in small bottles of water, at a 

 south window exposed to the full heat of a southern sun, which, during March and 

 April, often reached as high as 106°, and sometimes even 109^. Even in January, 

 the month when the larvse were found, the thermometer has been as high as 97° and 

 100', the average maximum temperature for the month being about 77° in the sun ; 

 at night, however, the thermometer would sometimes descend to the minimum tem- 

 perature of 35°, the average minimum night temperature for that month being 41°. 



The first larva suspended itself, preparatory to pupation, on the Ist of March, 

 and changed into a chrysalis during the night of the 4th. The others continued to 

 change at intervals during the course of the month, the last pupation, with one 

 exception, taking place on the 31st March. The exception referred to was an ex- 

 tremely small larva, not half the size of its fellows. It did not change till the 13th 

 April, and the pupa was proportionately small, and of quite a different colour from 

 the others, being of a much clearer and almost translucent green. Not having 

 emerged by the time I left Mentone, I placed it in a smaU box; which I took with 

 me, but unfortunately forgot to look at it till a good many weeks had elapsed, when 

 I found it had emerged and was spoilt. 



Of thirteen pupae which I retained, the first emerged on the 1st of April, and 

 the last on the 20th of that month, the shortest period in the pupa state being a 

 little over twenty-four days, and the longest about twenty-eight days. Of six pupae 

 which I sent to my friend Mr. Chapman, of Glasgow, two died in the pixpal state ; 

 of the others, one emerged on the 21st of April, having been thirty-six days in pupa, 

 auotlier on the 24tli, or thirty-seven days, and the remaining two on the 27tli of thp 

 same month, or thirty-eight days, his having thus taken about ten days longer to 

 emerge than mine did. The weather in Glasgow at this time it should be mentioned 

 was very cold and unfavourable. 



The perfect msect is the finest of all the European butterflies, and is the only 

 Charaxes found in Europe, the great stronghold of the genus being in West Africa. 

 It varies but little, the most noticeable point of difference being the degree of distinct- 

 ness in the inner of the two marginal rows of spots on the fore-wings. In some of 

 the specimens bred, this is nearly obsolete, with the exception of the spot nearest the 

 costal margin ; in others, again, it readies to the centre of the wing only, while in 

 others it stretches right across the wing, extending even a little way on the hind- 

 wings. In all the specimens, the basal half of the costal margin of the fore-wings is 

 of a rust red ; in one individual, however, this colour extends over the whole basal 

 area of the wing, and the white spot on the costal margin of the hind-wings, which is 

 always more or less present (although in some cases it is almost obsolete), is, in this 



